


Questions

by Crazy_luna



Series: Owari Magica [53]
Category: Owari Magica
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:27:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26810632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_luna/pseuds/Crazy_luna
Summary: Percy has a meeting with his science teacher and father
Series: Owari Magica [53]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815574





	Questions

**Author's Note:**

> 2300 points! and 2 exp..

Questions kept going back and forth in Percy’s head as he walked to the diner where his father and his teacher were waiting. Being the weekend, they couldn’t do the meeting at the school, but for some reason they needed to have one.

Not like he was any good at any of this. Not that anything had changed for the better.

His face is still hot when he gets into the restaurant, sliding into the booth next to his dad across from Mr. Belliveau.

Mr. Belliveau was an eccentric man, and worse, a science teacher.

Percy hated science.

“You made it!” The man had the audacity to smile at him.

Percy grumbled and sank in his seat.

His father nudged him. “I ordered you some chili and fries, you still like those, right?”

He nodded. His parents were trying.

He had to give them that.

Right?

“Mr. Richards.” Mr. Belliveau turned back to his father. “As we were saying before, I’m worried about Percy. He had very good grades when he was homeschooled, but I’m not sure he’s adjusting well. I talked to a few of his other teachers, and they’re worried too.”

His heart sank.

More adults talking about him as if he wasn’t here.

“Percy’s really good, I promise. He just needs another chance, sir. We’ve always been here for him, and now’s not an exception. I can help him with what I can, and-”

Percy tuned out, leaning forwards to snag his father’s coffee cup and drink it. Bitter. Nothing sweet. No sugar, no milk.

Just like it always had been.

It felt about the same way seeing Ana and Nessa together had.

Why did he care again?

“-attendance problems.”

Fuck.

Percy’s head snaps up.

His father looks at him in horror and exasperation.

“Percival! This again?”

Percy sets the coffee cup down. “I can explain.”

“Like hell-” His father pressed his face into his hands, groaning. Across the table, Mr. Belliveau just looked concerned.

“I’m sorry to cause problems, I really don’t want to stress anyone out. I just… want to make sure that everything’s alright at home. At school, it’s hard to figure out what I need to do to help, and if we can work through this without involving anyone else, that’s all I want. Just to reach out.”

He tucked some hair behind his ear, just looking between Percy and his father.

Percy wanted to scream.

His father looked at him.

“Speak.”

His head was spinning. His face was hot and he just wanted to know what the right course of action was.

But, again, no walkthroughs for real life.

“I…” He looked between them. The attempt at understanding in the teacher’s eyes, attempt at sympathy, attempt at human contact. The desperation and discomfort and disappointment in his father’s eyes.

Why were tears threatening to fall? He still hadn’t properly cried since Von, so why now?

“I don’t want to talk about it. It’s personal stuff.” Percy grabbed a spoon to stir the coffee, then leaned over his father’s space to grab packets of sugar. All of them, ripped at once and dumped into the lukewarm cup. He started stirring it, eyes still down. “I’m allowed to have personal stuff, right? It’s not just you and Mom.”

A low shot.

But, to rewind-

///

[approx. October 7th 3:20 am]

Usually Percy would have been more careful when he snuck out of the house.

However, when he climbed in, lazy grin on his face and hoodie mussed, sneakers coated with mud, his mother was sitting on his bed.

Waiting for him.

He froze.

“So, do you want to tell me where you’ve been all night?” Her eyebrows rise.

She looked like she’d been there a while. She was comfortable, resting against a pillow, her hair in a silk cap and bathrobe over her nightgown. The same one that he’d cried on when he was six, and the same one that she spilled no-sugar ice cream on when he told her that his diabetes was completely gone.

“Well…” He settled against the window frame, trying to decide what to do. “Uh. Out. Early start?”

“You haven’t slept here in a week. Want to tell me where you’ve been sleeping?” She set her book down next to her. History of Lace.

One of hers. That was a better sign. She hadn’t read through his books, probably.

Unless the stack of books on his bedside table hadn’t been there when he last left here.

“I…” He didn’t know what to say.

‘Luis’ house’ was a correct answer. ‘The park’ was also correct. So was ‘anywhere but here’ and ‘nowhere at all’.

“It doesn’t matter.” His mother held up a hand. “Whatever it is, it’s done. You need to be home. We miss you.”

He stared at her. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. It’s done. You’re going to be home and you’re going to like it, and that’s that.” His mother shifted so that her feet were hanging over the side of the bed now, rather than comfortably lounging. From here, he could tell that she’d been wearing slippers in his bed. “No ifs, buts or ands. I don’t care.”

“Right. Because you never care.” A rush of bitterness rose up, and he shook his head. “Duh.”

“What was that? Did you just talk back to me?”

“I guess! It’s never a conversation, so that’s the only option I have, right?” Percy stood up. “What’s the point of any of this? You’re gonna lock me up and I’m gonna get out anyways and it’s just gonna be the same as it always has!”

She wasn’t used to him yelling at her.

He wasn’t used to yelling at her.

Somewhere along the road, she’d been his favorite parent. Now she just looked confused and mad.

“Whatever tone you think you’re gonna take with me, you need to sit down. Do adults have civil conversations when they’re yelling at each other? No, of course not.” She smoothed out her nightgown. “We talk things out.”

She was trying, but he wasn’t in the mood. He hadn’t slept in three days, since he passed out at Luis’ side, playing animal crossing.

Lu put the game on the charger and saved it.

If he was there, right now, he’d know what to do.

“Like how you and dad still love each other, right? Since we’re just saying lies?” He crossed his arms. “Like how you don’t sleep in your office sometimes. Like how you don’t drink too much on purpose so you have an excuse to call him names. Like how you don’t wish you’d never gotten married to him? Like how you don’t wish you had a girl? Or anyone else? Like how you totally still care about me now that I’m not stuck here. This isn’t home, it’s a cage.” He spat it out. He wasn’t even sure where it was coming from, unless it was just… frustration. So long of keeping it all inside. So long of just pretending he didn’t see it.

“A cage?” She shouted, standing up. “What’s gotten into you? You used to be my son, now you just sneak out all the time and come back, angry and exhausted and hurting. I want to know why my son is hurting.”

“I’m not hurting. I’m not scared, I’m just-” pissed. Scared. Confused. Angry. Lonely. Keeping himself alone, other than Luis, because he didn’t know what to do with himself if he wasn’t alone.

“Mal-ad-fucking-justed.” He spat the word out. “If I knew how to talk to people, maybe then I’d talk to you.”

She grabbed her book. “I didn’t raise you to curse at me.”

“You raised me to be a bird in a cage. But I’m not a bird. I’m a teenager. Didn’t someone tell you that teenagers were the worst?” Percy kicked off his shoes, not caring when the mud smeared on his carpet.

“Why are you doing this?” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Where did my little boy go?”

He grabbed a fresh pair of shoes and yanked them on.

“Anywhere you weren’t. Don’t call me.”

//

Mr. Belliveau’s eyes caught his ring. “Percy- whatever’s going on, you can talk to me. I know more than you think.”

The note flashes through his mind. What would Bella do?

What would Lu do? Sierra?

“I don’t want to talk about it. If I fix my grades and start going to class, is that enough?” He looked at his father.

Such disappointment there.

He wondered if his mom was still giving him the cold shoulder, or if she was going to break something else during the next screaming match. Last time was a glass, maybe this time it’d be that vase he made when he was eight.

He started sneaking out when he was eleven. He wondered when they’d even noticed.

“For the school, yes. For me? I’m not going to drop this. Come by my office tomorrow. Maybe we can talk more?” The teacher looked at his ring again, and Percy just put that hand in his lap, using the other one to take a big sip of the cup of coffee.

He didn’t care about the consequences for him. His mom didn’t have anything to hold over his head, and his dad could be sad all he wanted.

Percy looked to the side.

Sierra needed the place to sleep. If he kept getting in fights with them, they’d throw him out, or her out, or something. He didn’t know, and that was what scared him.

He’d rather lose a bet to Bella.

He’d rather be a witch.

He could practically feel his soul gem darkening, heart in his throat. He needed to brighten his mood, asap.

“Whatever. Fine. If it gets you off my back.”

He didn’t look at either of them again for the rest of the meal.

Afterwards, Mr. Belliveau left first, leaving just Percy and his dad.

“You know, I… I thought we did better than this. Or if you were going to have your teenage breakdown, you’d keep the grades up.” His father shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I just thought I did a better job. A happy, healthy family.”

Percy stabbed the last fry on his plate with his fork. “Happy, healthy families don’t keep kids locked up for twelve years.”

“Percy…”

“Happy, healthy families don't have whisper-screaming matches while I’m playing splatoon.”

“Percy-”

“Happy, healthy families don’t look at me like I’m a piece of glass that they’re just waiting to see break.”

“We don’t-”

“Or say that they wish they had another kid.”

“I never!”

“Of course you didn’t!” He snapped back.

His father took a big gulp of coffee, shaking his head. “Your mother doesn’t mean any of that. She’s stressed from her students. You try teaching a bunch of sorority girls and drunk frat boys about the importance of women’s history and rights.”

“I don’t know, we’ll see if I live til college.” Percy stands, grabbing his phone from the table.

His father grabbed his wrist suddenly, obviously alarmed. “Excuse me? What is that about?”

Percy yanked his hand back. “I don’t- I don’t want to talk about it! It’s not important. I’m not…”

He was letting all of this get to him.

Why was his vision blurring so bad?

His dad’s hands catch his, holding it.

Something wet rolls down his cheeks. Oh! Tears. He’s crying.

Why does he have to cry here? It’s better when he’s out at the park, laying on the picnic tables, or hiding up in the baseball towers, or whatever they were called. Not like he ever got to join little league.

Hiccups bubble through his throat, and before he knows it, his free hand is rubbing tears off his cheeks, and he’s crying in the middle of the stupid diner. His dad just holds his hand and pulls him back down into the booth, holding him and petting his hair.

He wasn’t upset that he’d die, that he’d become a witch someday. He was upset that he hadn’t really lived until he became a magi, and the first thing he did was alienate everyone around him. He didn’t know how to talk to Von, he and Nessa weren’t close, and he didn’t even know Ophelia or any of the new girls.

And Ana.

She probably hated him. Had she even looked his way, other than when they argued during that sleepover?

Was anything better than before, when he was sneaking out every night? He had Sierra and Lu, and maybe Bella, but Lu wouldn’t talk to him, and he didn’t want to burden Sierra, and everyone seemed to hate Bella.

So all he was doing was digging the hole deeper.

Maybe it’d be better if he turned into a witch. Better to be inside a cage of his own, than the ones others built for him. Maybe it’d be nice. Maybe he could have a nice little daydream, was that what witches did? Dream?

Or did they hate themselves and want themselves dead too?

He didn’t want to think about that.

By the time he finished crying, the waitress was giving him these terrible pitiful looks and his dad’s tie was a mess. How embarrassing.

“Percy, just talk to me. Please, you know we… I care. I want to help. I want to know.”

Such sad, disappointed eyes.

Percy pulled back, wiping his eyes. “I… I can’t.” His throat felt like sandpaper. “It is personal. I just… need… friends. Lonely.”

His dad nodded. “And that girl, Sierra, she’s your friend, right? And that boy-”

Percy hiccuped, giving his dad a sharp look.

“Okay. Sierra is your friend! And what about that other girl?”

He shook his head.

“Ana,” He blew out a terse breath. “Is something else completely.” 


End file.
